Final Project Wiki

Here is my Final Project Wiki.

There are a number of ways that I could use wikis in my classroom. When I envision using wikis in the classroom I lean more towards reading literature and responding in wiki form than actually setting up a wiki for the sole purpose of writing.

I would like to use wikis for literature circles with my ninth graders. This would work well because students can record and respond and there can be a written record of their discussions and thoughts.

Also, while reading any novel, small group wikis would be beneficial to increase students' comprehension. Students naturally like to talk about the books anyway so to have them do it in a productive, technological manner would be beneficial.

As we've discussed in class, the collaboration aspect of working with wikis is constructive because students can corroborate their own ideas or opinions based on others' ideas. Collaboration is an increasingly important skill which students need to develop.

As a teacher it would be helpful to monitor students' activity on the wikis. Also, I often have a difficult time giving students feedback in a timely manner on essays. With wikis I feel as though I can evaluate students' writing and the revision process can be much more immediate as well.

Some challenges that may occur for students in collaborative writing seem to be the same challenges that students face whenever group work is assigned. Some students ultimately do more work than other students. Students may rewrite portions of the wiki which someone does not want rewritten.

Digital Note-taking

Using Inspiration would be very beneficial for students when looking at a novel. It would be helpful to analyze characters using mapping, or analyze themes from novels. Inspiration is also helpful with the outline format. Using the outline format would be beneficial for students when generating ideas for essay topics and organizing essays.

For my own use I find Google Notebook very handy. I have been using it a lot for school work and just general notes on websites. I think this could be helpful for students as well while researching on the internet.

Barn Bluff

Awwww, my lovely teaching town.

Testing out the Flickr.

Vlog Post

The SPNN Real Reality TV vlog caught my attention. I liked this vlog because it is something that would interest my students as well. Students I see often feel frustrated about the way their society is and they do one of two unproductive things:

1)They complain but do nothing.

2)They try to do something but feel like their voices are not heard.

With this vlog, students outline problems and issues in their world and go about questioning these ideas. I like that they choose relevant topics and that they interview relevant sources. These sources are providing positive feedback to these teenagers just by taking the time to speak with them.

I also like that they are not forcing people to think a certain way, but instead interview various people who provide differing views of the topics. This allows teens to gain information without forcing them to choose a position.

This vlog's audience is intended to be other teenagers to open their eyes to information about censorship, gothic culture and places for teens. Also, adults who interact with teenagers can appreciate these vlogs because it provides a glimpse into teenage life. The "Places for Teens" vlog specifically addresses adults and ways they can ensure teens have safe places to hang out after school.

The vlogs showcase a mixture of interviews, music video clips, audio clips and images. The interviews are effective because the people interviewed are experts in their fields. The music clips are effective because they provide examples of censored music and gothic, hardcore rock.